HUD Grants to Test New Approach to Help Seniors Age in Place

HUD recently announced it is making approximately $15 million available to test a promising housing and services model for low-income seniors to age in their own homes and delay or avoid the need for nursing home care. HUD’s Supportive Services Demonstration for Elderly Households in HUD-Assisted Multifamily Housing will offer three-year grants to eligible owners of HUD-assisted senior housing developments to cover the cost of a full-time Enhanced Service Coordinator and a part-time Wellness Nurse. The purpose of the Demonstration is to test the effectiveness of this enhanced supportive services model for elderly households and to evaluate the value of enhanced service coordination paired with affordable housing for seniors.

The demonstration will be independently evaluated to determine the impact of the enhanced supportive services model on:

• Aging in place in HUD-assisted senior developments;
• Avoiding early transitions to institutional care; and
• Preventing unnecessary and often costly health care events—such as some emergency room visits and hospitalizations—for residents in HUD-assisted senior developments.

HUD and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) collaborated on several research initiatives to inform the design of this Demonstration including a study in 2010 to identify promising models for aging in place in assisted housing and to develop a design for a seniors and services demonstration intended to support aging in place, and an evaluation launched in 2012 of the Support and Services at Home (SASH) demonstration in Vermont.

HUD requires prospective grantees to submit applications electronically at www.grants.gov.